The Texas Kisses Collection Read online

  She didn’t get far.

  Although still gentle, his arm around her waist locked immovably.

  Something the three women on the other side of the doorway immediately noted.

  Lily recognized them. The town was small enough that she knew most people by sight. Working at a doctor’s office put you at the center of things, especially when the doctor’s wife was the local newspaper’s editor and often popped in for a chat. Lily knew that these three women were popular. She’d have expected them to have dates on Valentine’s Day night. They were all so confident and attractive—and different from each other.

  Savannah Tipp was a tall, elegant blonde who was a stunning contrast to Ross’s dark good looks. Portia Duncan didn’t have Savannah’s elegance, but her affinity for ranch work and her cheerful, healthy appearance would appeal to any rancher. And finally there was Michelle Gordon with her black hair, perfect make up and 1950s pin-up girl glamour.

  “Good evening, Ross.” Savannah invested the mundane words with a hint of provocative invitation.

  “Hiya, Ross, Lily.” Portia was friendlier; at least willing to acknowledge Lily.

  “You’re not looking poorly, at all, Ross Fortescue.” Michelle flirted impossibly long eyelashes.

  “I’m fine. I guess you’d better come in while we sort out Aunt Donna’s meddling. It’s cold out.” He stepped back against the wall, bringing Lily with him, to allow his uninvited visitors to enter.

  The three women walked in.

  Lily watched them parade past and into the living room, and sighed. With her light brown hair and eyes and average figure, she was nothing remarkable.

  Ross bent till his mouth was against her ear. “I’ll get rid of them in two shakes. Just play along.”

  She made the mistake of turning her head to look at him as she answered. Their lips met and he stole a kiss.

  “Oops.” Portia grinned and ducked back into the living room.

  “There we go.” Ross had the audacity to smile at Lily, a smile too gentle and beguiling to resist. “I think they’re getting the picture.”

  “But it’s not true.”

  He ignored her whisper and swept her into the living room.

  “I tell you, he was kissing her again.” Portia broke off as they entered.

  Michelle, standing beside her, giggled.

  Savannah sat on the arm of a sofa, long legs crossed model-fashion. She tilted her head and studied Ross and Lily for a long moment. She looked reserved and even haughty, and very, very beautiful. The overhead light made her blonde hair gleam with golden highlights.

  Lily noted that none of the three women carried containers of chicken soup or anything else, even though they were reputedly at the ranch on missions of mercy to Ross’s flu-stricken self. They’d simply brought themselves.

  She shifted awkwardly, her weight moving from foot to foot, feeling like an imposter to be standing beside Ross.

  He drew her in front of him, stilling her restless movements with his touch.

  “Ross, you’re a devil,” Savannah said. Her drawl was even slower than his. A tiny smile destroyed her remote appearance, and made her human and likeable. “You were always a tease as a kid.” She strolled forward and kissed his cheek. “Put your aunt out of her misery. She’s gone to all this trouble to lure women out to you on Valentine’s Day. Let your personal match-maker have a rest.” Then she kissed Lily’s cheek. “And if he doesn’t, you should tell Donna.”

  “There’s nothing to tell,” Lily protested.

  Portia snorted.

  “Well, Ross, how do you like being called a nothing?” Michelle teased.

  He pulled Lily against him, her back to his chest, and wrapped both arms around her. It was a pose for sweethearts.

  It felt achingly real. Lily was so confused she didn’t know what to think. Surely these women didn’t believe Ross’s acting? Surely she didn’t?

  His arms tightened around her. “I’ll tell Aunt Donna.”

  All three women smiled.

  Lily blinked as she realized the smiles were real. Forget how dauntingly attractive the women were, triggering her shy sense of not measuring up, the trio were genuinely happy—despite their personal disappointment—to see her and Ross together. They thought they were looking at true love.

  “We’ll leave you to enjoy your Valentine’s Day plans,” Michelle said.

  “Yeah, sorry we intruded.” Portia rattled her car keys. “We’ll get out of your hair.”

  “It’s all right.” Lily felt bad that they believed something that wasn’t true. Worse, her heart was heavy with a poignant wistfulness. She wished it were true.

  “It’s all right, if you leave now,” Ross amended her statement.

  She swiveled her head to frown at him for his rudeness. “Ross.”

  Savannah laughed from the doorway. “Never mind, Lily. Be glad he wants time alone with you. Enjoy it.”

  Lily blushed.

  “Happy Valentine’s Day,” Michelle said as they walked out.

  Portia called out to the other two as she neared her car. “Let’s not go home. It’s horrible to be alone on Valentine’s Day. We can meet at Scotty’s Diner.”

  Looking at the trio, Lily didn’t think they’d be alone for long. She could imagine they’d soon be at the center of a laughing happy group. They all belonged here, had grown up in the county and knew everyone.

  They were part of a charmed circle, and yet their genuine friendliness was an invitation to join them. When she left the ranch, she’d like to meet them at the diner, to chat and joke, fighting through her shyness to build friendships. But if she did, Ross’s pretense would be discovered—as would the fact she’d gone along with it. So tonight she’d be going home alone to reheat some of her left-over chicken soup. She sighed.

  “Drive safe,” Ross called. If he was having a crisis of conscience, it didn’t show.

  Portia waved. The other two simply hopped into their cars. It was freezing out. A car horn tooted.

  Ross closed the front door as the cars headed back down the driveway. “I’ll light the fire in the living room. It’s a night for a fire and staying inside.”

  Lily hesitated, watching him stride into the living room. It was as if he expected her to stay, as if she were more than an excuse to hide behind to avoid match-making. “I should be going.”

  He halted and spun around. His dark eyes sought hers. His whole vigorous body expressed surprise and protest.

  She folded her arms, locking away her confusion and dreams that he wanted her there in his beautiful home. With him. “They’re all gone. My job here is done.” She tried to make a joke of it. “You’re safe from women dreaming of a handsome prince this Valentine’s Day.”

  “Handsome cowboy.” But his smiling correction seemed absent-minded. He walked back to her.

  She liked having his attention, liked it too much. A shiver of excitement passed over her skin. She hurried into speech. “I played along tonight, but you’d better explain the tangle to Donna in the morning. Otherwise she’ll believe we’re involved. I don’t know how you’re going to explain things to Savannah, Portia and Michelle.”

  He ignored her warning that their names would be linked. “It’s only early. My aunt might send out a second batch of women. Haven’t you heard, a job half-done isn’t worth anything? You have to stay the evening and save me.”

  She rolled her eyes. “There aren’t that many single women in the county panting after you.”

  He grinned and she mentally re-calculated. There probably were as many women panting after him as he thought—or more. It wasn’t simply that he owned his ranch outright, having inherited it from his grandfather. He was also good-looking, smart, funny and just plain nice.

  Not that she was going to say any of that to him, not now. He was too tempting. She wanted to believe the fantasy that she could spend this evening with him, cook together, eat together, sit in front of the fire and dream.

  But those dreams w
ould destroy her. She wasn’t the woman for a rancher. “I’ll grab my jacket and go.”

  He clasped her hand and said, simply. “Stay.”

  Chapter 3

  Lily’s heart pounded a mile a minute at the look in Ross’s eyes.

  Hollywood actors got paid millions for smoldering at the camera, but not one of them had a look that beat Ross’s. His dark eyes held a breath-taking intensity and sincerity, all focused on her.

  She forgot to breathe.

  “Stay with me, Lily.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You can.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t know me. This is all just pretend…”

  “Is it? Or is it as real as you want it to be? You weren’t looking, honey. I’ve been wanting to get to know you for the longest time, but you’ve been running in the opposite direction.” He feathered his thumb over her wrist. “What spooked you, darling?” His voice was low and wistful, humorous and yet compelling, inviting her to confide in him, to trust him.

  He watched her closely.

  Her gaze dropped to their joined hands. She risked the truth, as mortifying as it was, and knowing that he could never understand. “I was embarrassed.”

  “Why?”

  “You had to rescue me from a horse—in Texas!”

  “When I saved you from Daffy? That wasn’t a horse, Lily. That mean old coot is the devil himself. Besides, I like having a pretty girl feeling grateful to me.” The last bit was a clear attempt to coax her into a good mood.

  “You don’t understand. It’s not just Daffy.” Her face heated and she screwed her eyes up, not wanting to cry with embarrassment and the knowledge Ross would be disappointed in her. “I’m scared of all horses. And there’s no reason for it. None has ever hurt me.”

  “People scared of heights haven’t fallen off lighthouses. Fears aren’t always rational. But sometimes they can go away if we confront them.”

  “That’s what I tried to do with Daffy.”

  Ross laughed. He tried to cover it with a cough, but she heard him.

  She looked up at him reproachfully.

  He shook his head. “Darling, it’s like I said. You picked the most ill-tempered monster in all Texas to try and make friends with. Daffy makes a rattler appear friendly.”

  “But he’s small and almost cute with those big black splotches on his white coat. I see him every Sunday when I drive to church.”

  “And do you ever see anyone riding him?” Ross answered his own question. “Nope. Kelly-Ann keeps him because he was the last horse her great-uncle bred, but she don’t trust him an inch. He’s as ornery as an old Billy goat.”

  “I thought he was friendly and small enough that I wouldn’t be too scared of him. I had carrots and I stayed on the other side of the fence.”

  “I know you did, darling.” Laughter lurked in his solemn tones.

  She tried to pull her hand from his.

  He let her, but only to hug her to him. “There I was, driving into town, minding my own business, thinking of water levels and my feed order, and I see a pretty girl in the loveliest sunshine yellow dress crowded against an apple tree and trapped there by its trunk and branches, a fence, and wicked Daffy’s long, snaking neck.”

  “That horse is wicked,” Lily said, not sure how to cope with the knowledge that Ross remembered what she’d been wearing. Her yellow sleeveless casual dress was one of her favorite outfits. She’d worn it for courage that day as she attempted to face her fear of horses. “When the carrots ran out Daffy somehow trapped me against the tree even though he was on the other side of the fence. He has huge yellow teeth and he bared them at me.”

  “If he only showed them to you, he must have liked you. He’s bitten other folk.”

  “He liked me? Huh. No way.” She’d been terrified. She could still recall the knobbly hardness of the apple tree’s trunk behind her and Daffy’s snorting, evil head barring her way to freedom. Then she’d heard a truck stop. She hadn’t been able to tear her gaze from Daffy and the threat he’d represented, until she’d heard Ross’s deep voice.

  “Lily!” He’d known her because she worked for his uncle, Dr. Lewis, Donna’s husband. She’d met him a time or two at the office, smiled at his greetings and chatted carefully about the weather and the county fair, excitingly aware of how gorgeous he was.

  And that day he proved himself as gallant as he was handsome; rescuing her instantly, sending Daffy on his way with a slap of his hat to the horse’s rump and a command not to “bother the pretty lady.”

  Knowing that no one else in the county would have to be rescued from a horse that was on the other side of a fence, she’d nearly sunk to the ground in shame. Or maybe her knees had wobbled out of relief at being saved.

  Either way, Ross had insisted on seeing her home.

  If only she hadn’t been so desperately aware of her cowardice, so embarrassed by it. As he’d walked her to her apartment door above the local dress shop, she hadn’t even had the courage to look him in the eye when she thanked him. She had closed the door behind her and leaned against it, listening to him walk away.

  After that, whenever she’d seen him in the street or if he’d come into Dr. Lewis’s surgery, she’d gone the other way or pretended she was busy.

  She had been a coward about more than horses. She had unilaterally decided she wasn’t good enough for Ross—just as she’d decided Savannah, Portia and Michelle wouldn’t want to be friends with her, a shy newcomer. And she’d been wrong!

  Now, all her old confused emotions boiled up and she didn’t know what to say. So she said the thing that perhaps mattered least. “I don’t want to be scared of horses.”

  Ross had to admit, he liked the memory of Lily under the apple tree. Just as he liked holding her now and cuddling her.

  He didn’t like that she’d been scared. Because for him the memory of rescuing her from Daffy had been a good one. He’d liked how she’d smelled of a summery perfume as he’d drawn her out from under the tree and walked her to his car, and how in helping her into his truck, she’d been alive and vital, completely feminine.

  What an oblivious idiot he’d been! He hadn’t understood. He’d thought she’d been momentarily scared by Daffy’s bullying behavior. He hadn’t realized she’d been terrified. He would have kicked himself for insensitivity except, perhaps her work as a nurse had taught Lily too well how to pretend to be calm when she wasn’t.

  He studied her a moment.

  Her hands were twisting around each other, and she was flushed and nervous, but her chin was up. She was determined.

  He felt his own determination surge.

  Maybe he was rushing her, but maybe she had to learn her own courage. She ought to value herself as he saw her: kind, clever, caring, beautiful in a way that a man would take pleasure in every day. He didn’t want to see self-doubt in her eyes.

  And this was Valentine’s Day, after all. A day for love to work its magic.

  After the incident with Daffy, he’d tried to see her, but she’d made it clear—or he thought she had—that she wasn’t interested in him. So he’d let her be, as a man ought to. Nothing worse than a man who didn’t understand a woman’s “no”.

  But tonight, her kiss and her actions showed that she was interested in him. Only, she had doubts.

  He wanted to show her that they could be together, that they suited—horses or not.

  Chapter 4

  Lily melted a bit as Ross ran a slow, caressing hand down her back. Her embarrassment and anxiety eased, her nerves uncurled. She had just confessed how pathetic she was, and he hadn’t turned away. She snuggled into his embrace, feeling the comfort and excitement of it, beginning to believe that impossible dreams were actually possible.

  She should have braced herself.

  “You say you don’t want to be scared of horses.” Ross’s drawl was even slower than usual, as if he felt his way, tested each word. “I could help you face your fears. Will you trust me?”

/>   The offer startled her. She tensed, stiffening in his embrace, and easing back from him—the fractional distance his hold allowed. She searched his face.

  Dark brown eyes looked steadily into hers. A faint crease between his eyes hinted at caution and resoluteness: he knew he was asking a huge amount of her. His mouth—those gorgeous lips she’d kissed—was a firm line.

  “I do trust you.” But doubt threaded her voice.

  He noticed. His mouth thinned a fraction; such a tiny tautening of muscles to change his expression from indulgence to a hint of outraged arrogance and hurt.

  It was the hint of hurt that got to her. He’d done nothing to deserve her hesitation. She put her hand on his chest, over his heart. The steady thump reassured her, as did the relaxation of his expression.

  “You can do this, Lily. We’ll tackle your fear of horses together.” He didn’t move, didn’t coax her. He displayed a profound knowledge of human behavior. She had to take this step alone. She had to own her decision.

  She almost wished he weren’t such a gentleman. If he’d insisted, or conversely, given up on her, that would have been an easy out. But because he waited for her to choose—yes or no, adventure or cowardice—she felt the challenge to live up to his confidence in her.

  He believed in her, and she was beginning to believe she could trust the look in his eyes. The one that said he liked her, a lot. It was there in how he held her, too. As if she were precious.

  A woman would be a fool to throw that away.

  Moving from Houston to the Panhandle had been huge for her, but perhaps her fear of horses symbolized one final risk she hadn’t taken—to trust herself to a partner; whether that partner was a horse or, as Ross seemed to be offering, a man. She took a deep breath. “Yes.”

  “You go, girl,” he gently teased, his approval obvious. “We’ll go out to the barn, now. No time like the present.” He grinned. “No time for second thoughts.”

  He’d guessed her pulse-jumping swift doubts.